Mayor Ras J. Baraka hosted a press conference today to announce the launch of Newark’s historic Guaranteed Income (G.I.) pilot program, The Newark Movement for Economic Equity, on the front steps of City Hall, today, Monday, May 10, at 1 p.m.
“We must emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with new purpose, new vision, and new ideas to transform our community and truly improve the quality of life of our residents,” said Mayor Baraka. “Here we have an opportunity to directly empower and strengthen hundreds of lives immediately, while also demonstrating how to do so to the entire nation.”
The City of Newark established a Guaranteed Income Task Force that worked from 2019 to 2020 to map out just how a pilot program could be carried out in Newark. Guaranteed Income is an unconditional, recurring monthly cash payment given directly to individuals – no strings attached and no work requirements. Guaranteed income is rooted in a history of racial justice – in 1967, against a similar backdrop of civil unrest and racial reckoning, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called for guaranteed income as the simplest and most effective solution to poverty.
In a city where about one in three residents live below the federal poverty line, the pilot program will be a much-needed source of financial relief, and allow residents to stave off falling into a deeper cycle of economic insecurity. The research study will be led by the Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR), and will be conducted in conjunction with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a national organization advocating for and supporting pilots around the country.
Kevin Callaghan, Newark Philanthropic Liaison at Council of New Jersey Grantmakers said, “I had the honor of leading a Guaranteed Income Task Force with over 30 community organizations that over the course of a year grappled with how our social safety net does not work, and has never worked for far too many Newarkers and Americans.” The Newark Movement for Economic Equity is another initiative undertaken by the Mayor to provide economic relief for Newark’s residents while building an equitable city for all Newarkers. The pilot program started with 30 Newark residents and will graduate to 400 residents at capacity.
The City of Newark has identified $2.2 million in private funds to date, led by the Victoria Foundation, who have committed $1 million.
For more information on the Newark Movement for Economic Equity, please visit our website at https://newarkequity.org/
